Business Media Blog

How Interim Roles Have Increased in Demand

Written by admin on August 4th, 2011

Positive results have been released by the Interim Management Association’s (IMA’s) Quarterly Barometer to reveal that the popularity of interim managers has risen markedly over the last few months, reflecting their increasing importance in the workplace, and thus an increase in recruitment services for interim management positions.

It was discovered in the statistics developed independently through Ipsos MORI for Q1 2011 that the number of businesses hiring interim managers from businesses such as Interim Partners has increased this year. The industry is therefore boosted after a year of slow economic recovery, though if anything, this factor led to the growth in demand to undertake specialist projects, financial assignments and aid with critical business expansion projects.

The IMA report discovered a 29 per cent increase in the number of interims working on special projects, alongside a rise of one-fifth in financial assignments. Meanwhile, programme/project management assignments rose by nearly a third. Overall, the total number of new assignments started during the first quarter jumped by 13 per cent.

In what may be an unsurprising discovery, research found that the private sector overtook the public sector for interim management use during 2010, whereas it had been roughly equal prior to this. There was still a surprise rise in the number of interim assignments in local government; figures jumped from 26 per cent on the same point in 2010.

Chair of the IMA Jason Atkinson said: “Given the choppy and uncertain economic conditions, this renewed demand for interim managers is positive. Interims with vital niche skills in project management and financial expertise who are able to lead companies through tough challenges and deliver new growth are evidently most attractive to businesses right now.

“For many companies, interim managers are “just what the doctor ordered” in terms of helping UK businesses grow both domestically and internationally in difficult times.”

Mr Atkinson added that figures from Q1 continue to be positive, though the global market picture is seeing a “very interesting trend” regarding the surge in demand for British interim managers in global applications. “As such, our next survey will provide data on demand from abroad which should provide valuable insight,” he concluded.